Remembrance Sunday

Today marks a day to remember those who have fallen, people on both sides who lost their lives...

Today is National Candy Day so I thought I would share my sweet pattern design which is available on a variety of products on Redbubble!

Anew piece this week, I've worked on another christmas card as well. This one was a little spontaneous as I heard some geese flying over this morning and I love when I see the geese this time of year it makes me feel so nostalgic and inspired. I never know whether they are leaving or arriving but I love these little moments all the same.

A New Week, A New Start

I have a lot on this week, but I am determined to give it my all and keep producing new work. I wanted to share this new piece, I love puffins and I saw this image online, although the original had purple tones and backdrop I changed it to grey as I think it worked better and creates a more nostalgic mood like a misty clifftop.

Another cold weekend

The Autumn Equinox is today, here is a piece I made earlier this week, originally i was planning to have this as a christmas card, but I think it doesn't look very wintery, so I think it would make a better autumn card or print.

Musings

This month is going by at an alarming rate, although I must admit, I have definitely been far more productive this month. I think autumn is always a good time to pause and reflect on the year so far and like the trees that put on a final burst of energy, I like to try and do that myself before the year ends.

A Busy Week

Another busy week, although it's been a far more productive one. I've been working on many more autumnal pieces before being back on the job hunt again. In the UK there hasn't been much in the way of changes yet in colours but a chill is definitely in the air. I created this piece inspired by a photo I saw and was particularly interested in the white pumpkins, I've never seen any before I wonder if they taste different?

National Teddy bear Day

Today is National Teddy Bear Day, so I wanted to share some pieces i made. The first is an illustration I made a few years ago of my own teddy Toby Small, who had wonky eyes and could sit in the palm of my hand. The second is a quick practice piece I made recently.

National Wildlife Day

Considering today is National Wildlife Day, I thought I'd share my illustration of a grey squirrel, I painted this after catching one on camera I spotted running along the garden fence. Although today is only Tuesday for a throwback piece so I guess it's a 'Throwback Thursday' for this piece. I'm a big lover of our wildlife (although I'm well aware the grey squirrel was introduced from America) and I am looking forward to seeing other people's work on the subject!

Another piece from last week, made on a restless night. I had recently re-watched The Detectorists and love the song used in the third season about the magpie. Again with the arrival of autumn I have been busy coming up with seasonal works and this is another one. I really love old folktales and songs and will definitely be doing more work related to old folk stories in the future.

Summer's End

Autumn has now officially arrived in the U.K and I wanted to start creating some new pieces for autumn. This piece was inspired by a recent journey to visit my uncle whom lives in rural Cheshire seeing the fields full of crops and the telephone wires inspired me to look ahead at the changing seasons and what better way to capture this than the swallows leaving for the year.

Black Cat

Another piece I made recently 

The End of Summer

This is a piece I created last week of some crocosmia in my mom's garden. I always used to love this finely flower it was the epitome of summer, and now they are beginning to fade autumn is starting to creep in here in the UK and the nights are definitely getting chillier, bring on the knitwear! I really hope this autumn in full of colour as I always love the autumn colours and vibrancy.

Lucky Black Cat

Just a quick piece i made for Black Cat Appreciation, I thought I'd do a little twist and do a lucky black cat as we could all do with a it more luck.

Summertime Ends

With summer ending here in the UK I wanted to play around with some ideas before the season ends. I think I really was surprised the way they turned out but i think my favourite of the two is the vintage woman by the pool. I may do a few more before summer ends, but I'm rather excited about autumn and winter months returning, the cosy knitwear, mugs of hot chocolate and the warm glow of candles.

Sky

Having just finished my latest administration role, I am able to return again to my illustration work. I recently watched the film 'Sky' Featuring Norman Reedus and Diane Kruger. I have to say I found this film incredibly inspirational. I always love slow reflective moments in films such as the train ride in Spirited Away, and this film was full of them. The aspect of the film I liked most was the message I took from it that despite everything the main character has thrown at her, she is still able to keep going and find happiness in little moments, which is something I really need to do more of myself. (I also really loved the music Push the Sky Away by Nick Cave).

ramble on

These are two pieces i made last week in an attempt to get my confidence back with my work. I'm not sure why but lately I've really felt like i have lost my way with my work, landscapes have always been I felt my strongest point so these are two ideas I played with. Sometimes I do struggle a little with deciding whether to go crazy with collage throughout the image or just to add it for texture here or there and make it more realistic. I don't know. I think soon when I have finished my job and back to being a penniless artist I'll spend some time just doing pieces that I feel happy with and more importantly i like regardless of what others may think because that's when I feel I am at my best.

The Magic Stones

 This was a piece i made recently that I have had at the back of my mind for a long time. When I was little and I was enthralled by fairies, witches and magic i remember watching a short series back in the 90s called Merlin (no not the BBC tv series) and I remember seeing stone circles. Since then I always was captivated by the idea and my imagination went wild. When I finally went there with my family i was so disappointed by the stonehenge of today. All the mysticism and atmosphere had completely gone to be replaced by a busy road, the tourism and worst a fence which stopped you even going near the stones. The illustration i created is the stonehenge I imagined and I wanted to give it a timeless feel as well, it's the way i wished it was today still the magical and sacred pagan land.

Majestic sea cow

this is the second piece i managed to come up with last weekend. I've always found it strange that manatees are nicknames the sea cow although they are very cute and gentle animals. I saw an image online with a manatee with algae along it's back and it rather reminded me of moss and the idea grew from there (excuse the pun!). 

Nature designs

Over the weekend I surprisingly managed to work on not one but two new pieces. After the end of Springwatch I felt inspired to do more animal art, animals are certainly my favourite subjects to draw and study so here is a pattern I made of swans a' swimmin'. 

World Oceans Day

Piece I made for World oceans Day! I decided to do the orca although it's not my favourite marine animal it has to be one of the most intelligent and successful predators on the planet and is definitely in need of protection.

New piece on my blog this week, i'm trying to keep a bit more active through the week and still doing my creative pieces after working in the office. Now that's summer has begun I wanted to do a piece based on my need to see the sea again. I hope I get to go to the beach again this summer.

National Black Bear Day

Happy National Black Bear Day!

Think Pink

A study i made last week of a variety of pink objects. 

Busy Times

So I’ve been spending some time in the garden this week and my mum’s garden has gone crazy with this glorious spring weather and the bleeding hearts are finally out. I’ve always been fascinated with these flowers, it’s just such a bizarre & wonderful natural design.

Yellow Items

Finally completed my collection of yellow objects study to brighten your mood. I really love some of the retro products I think my favourite piece is the kettle.

That Sweet Sweet Aesthetic

This is the piece I was working on last week to practice some still life and colour tones, I'm really interested in retro products and upcycling old items! Pastels are definitely some of my favourites that I've seen online too. I am planning on doing a few more of these and I'm currently working on a group of yellow objects for this week.

Building Study

Modern apartments illustration. I had a lot of fun with this one I’d love to live in an apartment like this and grow plans on the balcony, I thought this might be in France but I’m not sure what do you think?

New Designs

Red Apple Design

Grey Floral Floor Cushion

Pink Floral Design

Kiwi Pattern Design Products

Last week I had quite a busy one so I decided to create some designs rather than illustration pieces. I find patterns are a lot quicker to produce. I really like creating pattern designs too because when I upload them to Redbubble or Society 6 I can see how they would really look as a finished product in the home. I would love to be able to get designs like these manufactured someday and have them sold in shops, although I'm not sure how to go about that to be honest. Maybe I'll dedicate some time in the future to conduct some more research on that too. For now though you can find my Redbubble account HERE and my Society 6 account HERE.

Tiger Piece

This was a piece from last week which I made to play around with fur and overlaying patterns as well as creating water effects. I love all cats and I thought a majestic tiger would be a great piece to study and I am considering doing a series of different wild cats sometime too as I think they would make lovely prints or greetings cards. With quite a tough week ahead of me I'm hoping I can still fit in a little time for art.

Happy Earth Day!

Happy Earth Day everybody!

ThrowbackThursday

For this week's 'Throwback Thursday' I wanted to share this digital portrait of a cute British shorthair cat.

National Bat Appreciation Day

So recently I saw a show called Hugh's Wild West, and they were able to listen to bats communicating together, me and my Mum came up with this silly little idea of bats knitting and nattering to each other!

Lemons For Days

This is just another piece i made last week which I wanted to share, in the UK last week (at least here in the midlands) there was barely any sun, so I made this to cheer my self up a little.

National Orchid Day

Today is National Orchid Day, I really love the variety of orchids you can get and I'd love to have one to add to my plant collection, although I'm terrified that I'd end up killing one in my dark bedroom, maybe one day I'll have a place with a conservatory and fill it with plants!

artvsartist

I've finally done a #artvsartist!

National Pet Day

Seeing as today is National Pet's day I created little something, I wanted to play around a little with textures and backgrounds again I see a lot of illustrations where people draw animals but leave them on a plain white background, and I don't want to do that because there's a lot you can play around with using backgrounds and I think for prints and cards it adds to the effect.

Farm Animals

Today is National Farm Animals day so I wanted to create a piece on new born animals, to be honest this was my first time doing a piglet or lamb so i definitely need some more practice on making tea look a little more alive! but I really like the colours of pink and pastel green which I might take on board for other pieces.

Murder on The Orient Express

Poirot’s most harrowing case the Murder on the Orient Express, for this piece I went with the David Suchet version (like the Death on the Nile), although I haven’t seen the Branagh version I really loved how this one was shot and the tension between him and the suspects especially that final scene! 

National Zoo Lovers Day

Today is national Zoo Lovers Day, I made this quick piece to celebrate those zoos who do wonderful conservation work in preventing some of our rarest species from becoming extinct. i've always loved going to zoos especially when I was little, some of my favourite places were, Chester zoo and Twycross Zoo.

National Handmade Day

Today is National Handmade Day' so I thought I'd have a go at a little something I think some parts worked better than others but adding collage is always fun to explore. I really like trying different crafts out, I always used to make cards for my family even when I was little, and although I have attempted to learn to knit a few times crotchet is still a craft that alludes me.

Throwback Thursday Goldfish

                          

For this week's 'Throwback Thursday' I wanted to share this piece of an orange goldfish, made using digital drawing (mainly the pen and brush tool in photoshop) then as a final touch I added some photographs with effects to add textures and details.

Find A Rainbow

Today is National 'Find a Rainbow Day' I really like the idea of celebrating the little things in nature which can make you smile. I'm trying to do that more lately and hopefully can get outside a bit more when the weather improves.

National Ferret Day

In celebration of national ferret day here is a little piece I made from an ink sketch which I coloured digitally then added some textures with photoshop effects over the top.